Honor Roll Giving rewards to prize employees.

Looking for an innovative way to rev up employeemotivation--and show them you appreciate the work they do?Take a tip from Doug Sears, who thought a good way to keep hisemployees' wheels spinning would be to offer a real set ofwheels as an incentive. But instead of choosing a deservingemployee himself, the owner of executive search firm DS&A andsoftware development company RecruitMAX Software in Orange Park,Florida, let his 50 employees choose who would win the use of a1997 Ford Mustang GT convertible for a year.

From June to December last year, employees were encouraged torecognize positive performance by co-workers with "DreamDollars"--forms that looked like dollar bills. Employees notedthe recipient's name, their own name and the reason for theaward on the bill. Reasons ranged from handling a difficultsituation successfully to simply brightening someone's day witha pleasant attitude. At the end of the contest period, the dollarswere tallied, and the employee with the highest number was handedthe keys to the car at the companies' holiday party inDecember.

The one-year lease on the car, plus gas and insurance, will costthe companies $10,000 to $12,000--an investment Sears believes iswell worth it. During the contest period, the companies posted a200 percent increase in sales over the same time period theprevious year--from $382,000 to $1.5 million--which easily coveredthe cost of the contest with profits left over. In addition, Searssays the contest created a stronger sense of teamwork because theemployees chose the winner.